Diving Canada – Saskatoon diver earns perfect 10’s, Carlson overcomes injury to win women’s event

WINNIPEG – Peter Thach Mai led Montreal’s Club CAMO to a medal sweep on men’s one-metre with a Canadian record in the 16-18 age group on Saturday at the 2016 Elite Junior Nationals diving competition.

Thach Mai totalled 588.60 points getting the record in spectacular fashion as he nailed his twisting dive in the last round for 9.0’s. Gabriel Corriveau followed at 479.70 and Felix Leathead was third at 466.90.  Thach Mai and Leathead, who teamed up to win the three-metre synchro on Thursday, now have two wins apiece this week.

‘’I wasn’t paying attention to the scoreboard so I was pretty surprised to see I got the record,’’ said Thach Mai. ‘’It was a pretty stressful competition and it was a proud moment for the three of us when we saw CAMO had all the medals.’’

On women’s three-metre in the 16-18 age group, Molly Carlson of Thunder Bay, Ont., crammed in one-month of training in preparation for this meet and won the gold medal.

Carlson broke her wrist at the provincial championships this past spring which kept her out of action for two months. She scored 505.30 points to finish ahead of Elaena Dick of Halifax in second at 480.95 and Mara George of Winnipeg’s host Revolution Club in third at 475.50.

‘’These are my last junior nationals and I wanted to do something here,’’ said Carlson. ‘’The preliminaries were steady and that gave me a lot of confidence for the final.  All my dives were better than usual.’’

Perfect dive for Saskatoon’s Ryan Wiens

In boys 14-15 platform, Rylan Wiens of Saskatoon was first, Bryden Hattie of Victoria second and Laurent Gosselin-Paradis of Montreal third.

Wiens returned in February after a year-long back injury. On his first dive, a reverse two and half, he earned a perfect 10.0 from all seven judges.

‘’I have never had that happen to me before,’’ said Wiens. ‘’You always hope to get a 10 but it happened I got seven of them. I knew when I came out of the water and heard the cheers I had done something pretty good. To get the spot for world juniors here at the nationals was my big goal.’’

The competition is also a team trial for the world junior championships this fall in Russia.

In the girls 14-15 platform, Margo Erlam of Calgary won the gold, Erin Field of Pointe-Claire, Que., was second and Mélodie Leclerc of Montreal third.

‘’I really felt I had a chance to win but I knew it would be tough,’’ said Erlam. ‘’There were definitely a lot of good competitors here. I am absolutely overloaded with joy right now to get the spot for Russia.’’

Competition ends Sunday.

More information and results: http://www.diving.ca/en/index.php?option=com_events&view=resultsitem&Itemid=180&eventid=74